Afterlife Dream

ArrowRain was glad to hear anything but critics about the high-level players being selfish, heartless, and awful creatures. "Thank God. Please speak up. What do you have in mind?"

Kitty walked toward the platform and climbed up again. "I understand that whatever you want to get is to aid you in the final boss fight. I am sure that we still have these items, more or less. Can we offer you what you need in exchange for all your Dimensional Points?"

ArrowRain raised her eyebrow, clearly skeptical about Kitty's offer. "Are you saying that you will give me a Skill Reset Scroll just as long as I am willing to use all my points to get Bricks?"

"Correct," Kitty confirmed.

"Just how many Skill Reset Scrolls do you guys have, though? What if you cannot provide for everyone?"

"Then we will give priority to the stronger ones, out of consideration that stronger players can net us more Dimensional Points.

If we cannot provide what you want from the list, feel free to use your points to get it but then we still ask that you donate all unused points to build the bridges."

It was fair enough. The high-level players quickly agree. The question was then a matter of integrity. Kitty hoarded a lot of exquisite items, but it would be unfair if she had to empty her storage to build bridges that served more than a thousand low-level players.

Two lists were quickly made.

One list to be filled by those who did not need the bridges, detailing what item they would like to trade the Dimensional Points for.

The other list was to be filled by those who needed the bridges, detailing what item they had in possession that they could donate to the cause.

I only needed one item. 125 Angel Feathers would be enough to grant me a pair of wings, and that was good enough for me. I no longer needed anything else. Especially since I was still playing a support class.

The thing that the high-level players wanted was mostly Skill Reset Scrolls. Some, like me, were just looking to complete their collection to get a mount, a pet, etc..

You would be surprised to see the kinds of things that the low-level players hoard, especially merchants like Kitty. Around 50 people did keep Skill Reset Scrolls in their inventory for their own use, presumably once they advanced to higher job levels. All of them were willing to give away their Skill Reset Scrolls. This showed that they were serious about building the bridges. Even the other players who had no items to give away still offered to pay the high-level players for their Dimensional Points.

To encourage and strengthen the high-level players, the low-level players went as far as handing over their treasures in exchange for promises that all the earned Dimensional Points would be traded against Bricks. There was no way to keep track of all players and the points that they gained. The low-level players had to rely on the honesty of the high-level players.

That meant that I got my 125 Angel Feathers prematurely. It was awesome. I mean, awesome. I did not care that others said how the pair of wings was purely for cosmetic purposes. Thanks to the wings, I could fly around when buffing my party mates. No more walking. No more running. No more teleporting and dodging boss attacks using my hands and feet. My wings could do the job with half the effort and three times the efficiency.

Determined to get both bridges built by the end of the event, all players diligently took part in the event. Four days passed quickly, and then the last day of the event arrived. It was a deciding day, so all players -- not only the low-level players -- were excited about the Brick count. There was always someone who just "happened to" pass by and ended up checking the Brick count at the NPC.

At the end of every invasion, it was expected to see a huge improvement in numbers, but on the last day, something inexplicable happened.

The Spring Blossom Bridge was stuck at 1317000 Bricks and the Enchanting Beauty Bridge was stuck at 1437800 Bricks. The numbers simply refused to go up despite continuous donations from players.

The world chat was again filled with messages from confused players.

"I swear, I just donated 34 Bricks and the number was not recorded by the NPC."

"Same! I donated 80 but the NPC did not register my donation!"

"Is this only one specific Bridge or both?"

"Both!"

"Yes, both!"

Something was not right, I thought. If the number increased somewhat, just not as much as in previous days, I would assume that some high-level players broke their promises and went to trade the Dimensional Points against something else. It was not the case. The Brick number simply did not increase.

Just to see what happened, I decided to partake in a little experiment. I went to the Dimensional Fairy NPC and traded 100 Dimensional Points against 10 Bricks. The Bricks were immediately donated right away to build the Enchanted Beauty Bridge. To my astonishment, the Dimensional Fairy took my Bricks as usual but the Brick number did not increase at all. Why was that? Where did my Bricks go? Where did everyone's Bricks go?

"Everyone, it seems that the NPC is bugged," HellWitch wrote in the world chat. "Please do the invasion as usual but don't trade any Bricks yet. We need to fix the problem first."

There was no point in donating Bricks if the Bricks were not registered, so everyone agreed to not donate for the time being. There was only one problem. It was already the fifth day. If we could not fix the problem until the day ended, then both bridges would be incomplete and all Dimensional Points would disappear from everyone's inventory.

Since there was no longer any need to do level 70 raids, I had nothing to do except grinding and participating in the event. I thus went to take a ship to Fairy Forest to see if there was anything I could do. Unexpectedly, I came across Aurendiria.

"Auren," I called, surprised to see her there at all. We were the only ones who were heading to Fairy Forest.

"Antares, fancy seeing you here."

"Are you also curious about what was happening at Fairy Forest?"

"Yup. I haven't donated my points yet. Something is happening over at the Fairy Forest, but we won't know unless we checked it out."

"I agree."

Being with Aurendiria alone on the ship, I recalled the first time I saw her. Although it had only been a few months ago, it felt like ages. At that time I was a complete newbie, looking up at Aurendiria and BlackPuma who were like gods high up in the sky. Thinking about BlackPuma made my stomach churn. We still did not know where BlackPuma was. He was still unreachable.

I stole a surreptitious glance at Aurendiria. I wondered whether she was still trying to send BlackPuma messages until now or not. Maybe she had already stopped? This was not something I could ask. I myself stopped after trying for the fifth time. In the end, we all could do nothing but hope that BlackPuma was safe, wherever he was.

The ship landed in no time. The port was still the same, with no changes at all. Aurendiria and I stood in front of the light portal, wondering what to do.

"I don't see anything different," I said.

Aurendiria sighed. "Same."

I looked into the distance. All maps consisted of one or multiple platforms, connected by ladders or small bridges. As far as eyes could see, the maps were floating in the sky. Only light portals could connect one map to another.

There was an invisible shield surrounding the map that prevented players from falling off the map into an unknown space. The same shield was also seen surrounding the port map. A pearly white shield that glowed from time to time like a mysterious lamp. It was especially beautiful at night.

Aurendiria went to the edge and pressed her hands against the shield.

"When the event said that we would be building bridges, I imagine having the two bridges connecting three maps together in place of the shields."

"Yeah, me too. We have been contributing Bricks. Where did they all go? Or is the Dimensional Fairy hoarding all of them until we reach the amount needed to complete each brick?"

"Maybe?"

In light of the current situation, it could be anything.

I walked over to the edge to join Aurendiria. I expected my foot to press against the invisible shield when I reached the edge, but it did not happen. Instead, I literally walked off the cliff to my death. I did not even have the chance to scream before the ground disappeared under my feet and I started to fall beyond the shield.

"ANTARES!!!"